Posts Tagged ‘10 commandments’

You can read my version of the 10 Commandments, rewritten for children, here. We did the same craft activity again this year, but I revised the printout (download it here) so that the numbers are against the text of the commandments rather than next to the names of the hebrew letters. Personally I think it looks a bit better – the kids probably didn’t mind either way.

In other news: dabbing a (wet but not too soggy) teabag onto paper gives better results than wiping it over; and foam cutout stickers (something I only recently discovered) are awesome!

Last year we made our own “tablets of stone” for Shavuot. I printed them, the children coloured them in, then we wiped them over with a wet teabag to give a mottled, old appearance before adding some flowers and stickers. (Above is my daughter’s artwork.)

As a learning exercise, I included the first 10 letters of the Hebrew alef-bet ( this is how the commandments are represented in our synagogue) with the number associated with that letter, and the pronunciation of the letter.

My daughter was only 3 when I did this activity. She a sweet little soul and I was (and still am) happy to wait until she is older before I introduce the concepts of murder, adultery and so forth, so I also re-wrote the commandments in child-friendly language, as follows:

1. There is only one God.
2. We should not make pretend gods.
3. God’s name is special.
4. Remember Shabbat is a day to rest and say thank you.
5. Listen to your parents and take care of them.
6. Do not hurt other people.
7. Love and look after everyone in your family.
8. Do not take things that belong to other people.
9. Do not say things that are not true.
10. Be happy with the things that you have.

This project combines colouring, cutting and sticking – the tried and true favourites of small children everywhere!

What I used:
– piece of light card for the background. You can print out text like mine using this file: Shavuot craft backing sheet
– paper in a contrasting colour for Mt Sinai (or you could just draw a mountain shape on your background)
– white paper for people and something to colour it with (instructions below)
– some cotton wool for clouds
– flower confetti (but you could draw flowers, use stickers etc – whatever your craft stash will allow!) to decorate Mt Sinai

To make the figures, cut a strip of paper (mine was 1/4 the height of an A4 page) and colour it in.
Then fold in half (coloured side in) and then in thirds.
Now draw the outline of a person so that their arms reach the sides, and cut around it. (Some parental help will be required for this step.)

Unfold and you will have 6 people “holding hands”. I used 5 to represent the Israelites waiting at the base of Mt Sinai, and cut off one to become Moses. He gets to hold the traditional stone tablets containing the 10 commandments. I used a picture I found on the internet but you could draw your own.

Now grab your gluestick and assemble your picture – Mt Sinai with clouds at the top, decked with flowers and Moses bringing down the tablets of the law to the Israelites assembled at the bottom. Have fun and chag sameach!